Anyone afraid to use iCloud?

[steve333]

I have always been leery of iCloud. I bought a new Mini and it seems it is turned on even though I clicked not to. Suddenly old safari bookmarks showed up.
Is anyone else afraid to use it and is there any negative to turning it off and staying away from it?

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[rpmurray]

The very first thing I do after doing a clean Install of any macOS is to make sure not to turn on iCloud. I'm not so afraid of using it but I know from previous experience that any services that Apple provides over the internet can be obsoleted by them at any time without notice so I prefer to be safe than sorry. I don't like being left in a lurch by them just because they've decided they don't want to support something anymore, and since they have zero communications skills when it comes to notifying their customers when this is about to happen I don't trust them any further than I can throw Apple Park.

The thing I am afraid of changing is my AppleID. I have an old legacy ID from back in the day when Apple did not require it to be an email address and as much as they keep nagging me to change it I also know from the horror stories I've read online that if I do this and they screw it up on their end that I'll be left unable to access everything that's tied to it and the only answer I'll get from them is "sorry, create a new ID, we can't help you with this" and I lose everything and have to start over.

 

[steve333]

I think I may have clicked on it when adding an extension. I didn't see any button that said 'get this' or' install 'just a icon that looked like a cloud. Very deceptive if true and getting and finding extensions for safari seem to have gotten more difficult.
The thing I dont get about iCloud is that if you turn it off why on earth would it delete info on your Mac? makes no sense, it should ask if I want info stored on the cloud to be deleted. Thats one reason I didnt want it to be turned on.
Also, it should have asked me if I wanted book marks restored because it restored a set of older bookmarks that I didnt want so now I have to delete them all. I always export my bookmarks to the desktop and then send them to my email so I always have them in case something goes wrong with my computer.
I didn't migrate my old info either, just turned on the new Mini and set it up
I dont use any other Apple products anyway, I have an old iPhone that only use as a GPS

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[steve333]

When it first started there was no option to keep data, it only said data will be deleted that's one reason I never wanted to turn it on again.
Maybe I had a brain fart and clicked yes to turn icloud on. Fibro Fog can make me do stupid things sometimes. I'll turn it off when I go home tonight

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[steve333]

I do remember turning it on years ago then turning it off.
So that's just one time I don't remember turning it on.

 

[mikzn]

The very first thing I do after doing a clean Install of any macOS is to make sure not to turn on iCloud. I'm not so afraid of using it but I know from previous experience that any services that Apple provides over the internet can be obsoleted by them at any time without notice so I prefer to be safe than sorry. I don't like being left in a lurch by them just because they've decided they don't want to support something anymore, and since they have zero communications skills when it comes to notifying their customers when this is about to happen I don't trust them any further than I can throw Apple Park.

yes couldn't agree more when it come to installing a new MacOS version (even if not a beta) - a very good practice to make sure everything is backed up and "thought out" before turning on iCloud and to consider each option in the "iCloud Drive" options - which can be turned on / off separately.

I have had "new install" issues in the past with my Contacts not syncing properly and loosing more than 1000 contacts, also had issues with iPhoto migration to Photos and using photos on iCloud (lost a lot of pictures due to poor sync and stopped using photos on iCloud)

Also from painful experience I always avoid turning anything on or off in iCloud to see if that fixes things like contact sync, iMessage issues, Mail, reminders, calendar, keychain etc.

Is anyone else afraid to use it and is there any negative to turning it off and staying away from it?

iCloud things I don't use - (keep a local copy and a back up)
Photos - use local storage and CCC to back up weekly
Desktop Documents Folders - easy to just create custom folders (and back up the iCloud drive folder weekly)
Apple Music - too confusing to Apple Streaming content from Local Files and Playlists

iCloud things that work great - IMHO
custom folders - iCloud drive - Documents and Files to iPhone 8 and iPP 12.9
iMessages - use extensively for work communication with clients - have almost 4g or messages
Contacts - sync always seems buggy but works - also have duplicated in Outlook just in case
Reminders - works great
Calendars - works great except for outlook invites
Keychain - works great - but also use a Password Manager

 

[steve333]

I called Apple support and they tried a few things then had me re-install the OS. monitor problem still exists, he told me to return the Mini.
Out of curiosity I checked the RAM usage and with nothing open it said I was using 4.35Gb RAM. With only Safari open it said I was using 5Gb RAM. Is this normal? I mentioned it to the Support guy and he said it didn't sound right and that the re-install may fix this. It didn't.
So, is 8Gb RAM really enough or should I get 16Gb after I return this one?

As for iCloud after re-installing the OS when it got to iCloud it said setting up iCloud and didn't give me an option for not setting it up. After the install I checked and iCloud was on. I turned it off.
So, feeling a little vindicated (somewhat).

 

[Honza1]

Out of curiosity I checked the RAM usage and with nothing open it said I was using 4.35Gb RAM. With only Safari open it said I was using 5Gb RAM. Is this normal? I mentioned it to the Support guy and he said it didn't sound right and that the re-install may fix this. It didn't.
So, is 8Gb RAM really enough or should I get 16Gb after I return this one?

Looking at simple amount of used RAM is not that useful anymore. Current systems keep memory as utilized as possible. Something like "unused memory is wasted memory" someone said some time ago here. So you will find that large fraction of memory is used all the time. It will be made available as needed by purging unused stuff. It is the memory pressure which is important.
My Mini has 8Gb RAM and usually utilizes around 5-6Gb. Independently of what it is running. Typically it runs Safari (2.4GB RAM, what is it using it for???), PDF Expert (1.4Gb???), and standard background stuff (e.g., Dropbox has large memory footprint also). 35% pressure (green) - 30 days back. Only time I got any issues with RAM on this mini is when I started virtualization software and run Windows in it. It kind of worked, but 8GB is clearly not enough for TWO operating systems and some applications at the same time ;-)
But I am sure you can find applications which will run out of RAM with 8GB (or even 16GB).
Did anyone tell you, that in the 2018 Mini you can upgrade RAM yourself? So if you run in troubles in the future, you can replace/upgrade RAM yourself as needed - and probably even cheaper than what is Apple difference in cost now.

 

[steve333]

I'd rather not do that with the way Apple has made it difficult to replace the RAM. I did it with my previous Mini but is was simple.
I think I will just order an i5 Mini from Apple with 16Gb RAM then return this one to Amazon (I have until 9/20).
Hopefully the i5 is worth the extra money over the base model (with the 128Gb Hard Drive). With Amazon giving $100 off on the i5 model it was a no brainer.
So much for saving $100. Oh well. I wonder how long it will take Apple to send it to me?
I was going to go to the Apple Store but it would have to be ordered from there anyway so what's the point?

 

[Bending Pixels]

What are you specifically afraid of? Apple does a really good job at protecting your information and data.

 

[steve333]

No company is infallible, not sure I want my info (passwords, etc) in the ether .
I also heard it can slow down the computer a little, plus I really have no need for it as I back up what's important on thumb drives and email updated bookmarks to myself.

 

[Eithanius]

Afraid...? Yeah, six years ago...

Now...? Can't live without it...

 

[Tech198]

I have always been leery of iCloud. I bought a new Mini and it seems it is turned on even though I clicked not to. Suddenly old safari bookmarks showed up.
Is anyone else afraid to use it and is there any negative to turning it off and staying away from it?

me, afraid ? Nope.... I just choose not to... Completely different.

If i ever did you it, it would be signing in only when i needed to, then signing out.. (i.e. sometimes Apple live chat favors iCloud sign in over downloading and installing an app for remote support)

I don't mind that just as long as my data is not there without my permission.

It's convenient, unfortunately done by the throat.The same ones using convenience are also the same one who has issues over x... or privacy..

You go into it,, you have no say after.

 

[fisherking]

No company is infallible, not sure I want my info (passwords, etc) in the ether .
I also heard it can slow down the computer a little, plus I really have no need for it as I back up what's important on thumb drives and email updated bookmarks to myself.

then don't save your passwords in the keychain (or in a doc in documents, for example). and the cloud doesn't slow down your mac UNLESS you're using 'docs & desktop' in the cloud AND are on an older mac (i don't do this, i don't share that work between devices).

otherwise, i don't get it; unless you're working with top-secret documents (or running a criminal enterprise), the cloud is a great tool, and is a signpost to the future, where more of our work, and lives, will be in the cloud.

having my notes, calendars, contacts... bookmarks, etc synced between my phone and mac is a godsend, and... would not want to be without it.

 

[steve333]

I can understand that, I guess since I don't use my iPhone except as a GPS it isn't as useful for me. I'm already on the computer too much, don't want to get sucked into the iPhone as well.

As for my new Mini after sending it back, I'm wondering if I should just wait until Catalina comes out which supposedly fixes the HDMI issue until I buy a new one.

Funny thing. I downloaded Onyx and ran the maintenance and now my Mini is only using less than 3Gb RAM on it's own but then went up to 5.30Gb with Safari and Firefox open.